Bev and Stephanie discuss FAT, the worrisome word that wreaks havoc among most women

Fat is a word that invokes fear and loathing in many of us. The word creates negative, and often irrational but really powerful emotions.

In this episode Bev and Stephanie will discuss myths of FAT nutrition. They talk about non-fat, low fat, full fat foods, current trends in eating, and share some little known secrets about FAT.

Stephanie also shares discoveries from her bestselling book about metabolic fat burning and how you can utilize your own stores of body fat to increase energy, lose weight, and improve your health while never dieting again.

There are still so many misconceptions about what is good or bad for you and in New Zealand anyway, the Health Department is still giving out written information to the general public to eat low fat, consume lots of vegetable oils and to chow down on piles of grains. So this could be an eye opening episode for some people.

Also, the word ‘fat’ is bandied around a lot as an insult - calling someone ‘fat’ and labelling people who don’t look like a model has to stop. We're keen to change women’s attitudes toward their bodies to something more positive and for women to not feel guilty when they eat "fattening foods".

What is it about the word FAT that gets us so emotional? I think it’s because we, as women, have been inundated, throughout our lives, with the overarching message that we need to look a certain way. That certain way puts all other aspects of our lifestyle at a lower priority and permeates our thinking and our actions.

Let’s start with moving past thinking of FAT as an appearance. For today, let’s look at fat as one of the 3 major and absolutely essential nutrients in our nutrition.

MACRO means MAJOR and fat, along with protein and carbohydrate creates the trio of macro nutrients essential for a healthy life.

Then there are micro-nutrients which are vitamins and minerals contained within the macronutrients. These are also essential but in a different category than the BIG 3. We need them in smaller amounts than macronutrients but they are still essential to our diet and deficiencies can cause serious health problems.

Without fat, protein, and carbohydrate our bodies will not thrive. Each of these things perform essential roles in our body.

Stephanie was in her late 50’s before she made the connection between activity and food as equally important and shared for a healthy body. Unbeknownst to many, she was a fat girl and will share that story with you in another episode.

Todays’ talk will look at fat as a nourishing part of our daily food intake that is extremely important.